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Finding Part Time Work in Glasgow

Welcome to the first GSA careers blog.

Each month GSAcareers will focus on one specific area of creative professional practice. Exploring each topic in depth, you will benefit from loads of advice and information on how to develop great career skills and knowledge to help you establish a professional approach to your career.

This month we are focusing on finding part-time work.

Students often combine their studies with working part-time. Undertaking a part-time role can offer many benefits; from developing your social and professional networks, gaining new skills and aptitudes to earning money to support you and your studies.

At GSA, students find work in the retail, service and hospitality sectors mainly around the city centre and tend to work on average between 7-15 hours a week. Part-time opportunities are always highly sought after and competitive, even more so now, due to the current economic climate. So, if you are looking for work you will need to be focused and ready to act as soon as a job becomes available. Our top 5 tips will help you find and win the perfect part-time role.

1.Know what you want to do…It might sound obvious, however spending some time thinking about the type of skills, motivations and interests that you have can really help you narrow down the type of work you would like to find. Once you establish this, spend some time researching the market; what skills and experiences are your chosen employers looking for? How do you match up to employer’s needs? Where do your chosen employers usually recruit from? For further information see: http://theundercoverrecruiter.com/secret-focusing-your-job-search/

2. Get your CV and application approach ready…Poorly presented CV’s and applications will not get you an interview. Spend time making sure that your CV is targeted and appropriate for each employer you are applying to. If you are new to the UK, check that your CV is suitable for the UK market. See Prospects for further advice: http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cvs.htm

3. Be targeted…This point can’t be stressed enough– stay targeted and focused on your job goal. This will help you to search in all the right places for jobs that you really want, as well as ensuring that your CV and approach will match what the employer is looking for. If you are unsure of how to get started, follow this link: http://tiny.cc/dpk5jw

4.Job hunt effectively…You should always deploy more than one approach to job hunting. Think: online, speculative approaches, local and national newspapers, recruitment companies, volunteering and social media. And don’t forget to let your network of friends, family and colleagues know that you are looking for a job. For more tips on job hunting see: http://tiny.cc/qqk5jw

5.Still no joy?... If you are struggling to get interviews then it may be time to review your approach. It might be as simple as changing the way you are looking for work or making small changes to how you present your CV or application. It is a challenging market out there and it might take you longer to secure a role- don’t become de-motivated, speak to your Careers Adviser and get your approach and CV checked. For great tips on how to stay motivated see: http://tiny.cc/prk5jw

For further information and links, contact the Careers Service at careers@gsa.ac.uk , and ask for a copy of the companion handout, GSACareers Finding Part- time work.